


Military

by BorkiBarnes



Category: The Ultimate Sidemen
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Gen, Hurt, Love, Missing, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-01-29 07:09:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12625821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BorkiBarnes/pseuds/BorkiBarnes
Summary: The Military Man





	1. This is War

A warning to the people, the good and the evil

He left. Simon Minter was the first person to leave the Sidemen. Least expected too, after the amount of time he spent on his youtube channel uploading for his fans in order to keep everyone happy. It received mixed reactions. No one knew where he went. He vanished, almost. He left people happy and upset.

This is war

All he asked for when he left was that the rest of the guys were to stay together. He said that this was something he needed to do. His family knew. The Sidemen didn’t. They tried their hardest to remain collected in front of millions of fans, which they did! Not for long, atleast.

To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim

JJ trudged on through. He had known his best friend for years and knew him through all his ups and downs. So when Simon said that this was important for him, it was.  
Josh watched on from the sidelines. He respected Simon’s opinions but couldn’t help and feel a little bit hurt. After all, he didn’t know the full situation. He didn’t understand.  
Tobi felt like he was killed. Broken. He admitted that the person he was closest to out of the Sidemen other than Josh, was Simon. So why did he ignore him?  
Vik was sad. Emotionless, now. He looked up to Simon, competed against him and laughed with him. Simon helped him through thick and thin. Now he was gone.

A warning to the prophet, the liar, the honest

Ethan was almost like a rock. Like JJ, he respected Simon’s wishes and opinions and held them close to his heart. He led the younger ones through the depression that was Simon’s absence. A heart.  
Harry was a liar. A good one. He continued to say he was fine, that he was copying. He wasn’t. He had the scars to prove it. It confused him, why was he so wound up without Simon?  
The fans, however, were honest. They were upset, angry and confused. Why did he leave them? His life? Was he upset? Angry? Depressed? Did he kill himself?

This is war

It’s the moment of truth and the moment to lie

Simon left to join the military. Yes, his family knew. No the Sidemen didn’t know. Simon had felt…lost in a sense. As if there was no more purpose in his life than to make videos and do ‘stupid’ things for the internet. He needed to feel a sense of pride, long lost. He needed to feel useful. So he went and trained to fight. That was the truth.  
He lied to everyone else. He left them in the dust, with no vision. One day he was uploading FIFA videos, the next he was gone. Twitter blacked out. Instagram blacked out. Snapchat gone. Weirdly enough, all the location statuses and whereabouts locked on his social media accounts had vanished from thin air. No one cared though. For all they knew, Simon Minter was dead.

The moment to live and the moment to die

You’d expect the rest of the Sidemen to find out in some grand last day outing. No. In the Sidemen house, people were calling for him. Josh ran up to his room, only to find it empty, the only remnants in the room was his computer and gaming console set-up, bed and TV. No clothes. No signs of football gear. No nothing except what was his life.  
The Sidemen got a short text message. Explaining that he would be gone for a bit. No one was to contact him. His number was deleted. Simon Minter had officially vanished. None of them knew where he went but refused to let the rest of the world find out, so they made up a lie. Simon was very ill and doesn’t want anyone finding out where he was for his own privacy.  
Meanwhile, Simon was preparing for the fight of his life. You wouldn’t recognize him now. His bleached hair with brown roots was buzzed with a hash, cropped cut remaining. He had finally gained some muscle mass on his body due to intense working out and training regime’s. Now he actually looked like a giant, not someone who was pale and incredibly thin with long lanky limbs. His voice was deeper, too. It seemed as though all the yelling and strict environment caused him to gain a sense of authority to his voice.  
All of this made him rank up to Sergeant.

The moment to fight, the moment to fight

It was war time. Simon was now at the front lines in the hidden war that the world didn’t know about. It was exceptional improvement in training that got him so far. Now he just had to prove himself.  
Smog covered the lands, the reek of metal pongered in the air. Smoke and debris accumulated to provide barricades and blocks. Sweat slowly peeled in thin layers from Sergeant Minter’s head as his knuckle white grip tightened around the cool metal of his gun.  
Bang.  
One warning shot.  
Bang.  
Second warning shot. A third meant charging into no-man's land.  
Bang.  
Screams of fury erupted and the shrill screech of flying artillery pierced the air.  
Colours flew in front of his eyes.

To fight, to fight, to fight

To the right, to the left

The lads back at home continued with their lives, still desperately trying to get in contact with their beloved best friend. They went to the extent of contacting his family, who refused to give any information at Simon’s request. Just that he was alive.  
The new Simon charged amongst his fellow comrades as he fought to protect Great Britain. He was truly a sight to behold, one that would scare even the toughest of men.  
He was Simon Minter.

We will fight to the death

Emotions raced around Simon’s head. People fell like flies in front of him. But it wasn’t like a videogame where they just got up and kept going. No. They were dead.  
Simon rounded a corner to face the opposition when he faced a lad. Someone young. Fear was evident in his eyes as he brought his gun up to face the pale child’s face. His eyes flickering from the side to side. Regrettingly, he shot. An image that would remain in his head for the rest of eternity. He killed someone.  
Oh.  
My.  
God.

The Sidemen were unaware of the situation Simon faced. They just kept pushing through. Everyone was living at the Sidemen house now, not letting anyone out of each other’s sights. They can’t afford to lose someone else.

To the edge of the earth

Simon was an idiot.  
As the men ran along in the final battle to claim the last area, Simon looked around. He had gained many friends and they were now so close to the end of it. He would be able to see everyone again, return to his normal job.  
A bullet went flying through the air.  
There were now only 2 remaining from Great Britain, only 1 from the opposition.  
It whizzed towards one of them. The other raised his gun on instinct and immediately shot the bad guys. It was over.  
The bullet didn’t slow.  
Fear flashed in his eyes.  
The stronger one leapt.  
He leapt to protect his mate.  
To protect his innocence.  
He leapt for Great Britain.  
The bullet hit and tore shreds.  
And with that, the Simon Minter fell.

It’s a brave new world from the last to the first

He hit the ground, pain sparking from his leg, at least was.  
It was gone.  
He wouldn’t be able to play football ever again.  
He lay there, his life passing before his eyes. He barely registered the other man helping him, stopping the blood, saving his life.  
All Simon did was reach up for his left pocket, the one covering his heart.  
He pulled out 2 photos.  
The first was of his beloved family.  
The second was of the him with the Sidemen.  
Everything faded to black.

To the leader, the pariah, the victor, the messiah

He thanked everyone.

I do believe in the light, raise your hands up to the sky

It was a year after Simon left when the Sidemen received the letter. Everyone was now standing on their feet, having come to accept that Simon wasn’t coming back.  
The letter was certainly different.  
It was asking them to attend a service in regards to the latest war heroes. The World War III ones. The ones from Great Britain. It asked them to attend in the exclusive section. That confused them at first.  
It took them a while to realize that it was because they were the children rolemodels of England, and so having them at the service would do great good in inspiring others.

The fight is done, the war is won, lift your hands towards the sun

They showed up in suits in a great mood. They were finally happy. All had their vlogging cameras, doing their business as usual. It was a great turn out for a service of recognition.  
It started with the recognition of success within the British military, mentioning that it was one of their own soldiers that took the final deciding shot of the war. The 6 sidemen stood there quietly, heads bowed in respect and cameras at their side when the TV camera panned on them. It was truly a great sight.  
Next, they moved onto the slightly minor awards, but none the less important. Those went through fast as tears were shed and the Sidemen continued filming their own perspectives.  
It was the last part that was most important. Recognizing the true heroes of the war. They had already called out 5 men and awarded them the Victoria’s Cross and at the same time, they were knighted.

“And now, we have come to our final recognition. No one expected a lot from this man, he came here rather inexperienced but passionate. He put his heart on his sleeve and led many men into battle with no remorse. It was this man that killed the last axis in the war. But, not without sacrifice. Before the man was killed, he shot at one of our own. This man continued to shoot and kill the last opposition before jumping in front of the person shot at, saving his life. Unfortunately, good luck can only go so far. This man has lost his leg for sacrifice of someone’s life. He was a true hero.  
We today award our final Victoria’s Cross medal to Sergeant Minter.”

A tall, muscled man hobbled on stage in full military uniform with a cap on, a cap that covered his eyes. Only just. Simon looked into the crowd after he was knighted. He did it! He had proved himself. He looked at everyone screaming and crying, when he spotted them. The Sidemen.  
They were all applauding him. He looked closely into their eyes and realized that they were yet to recognize him. A smirk formed on his face.

The war is won

“And that is it for today's vlog,” Vik exclaimed into the camera he held in front of him as he spun around. “Does anyone have anything else to add?” He asked when he noticed the hero of the war walking over to them. Jeez he was tall.  
“Guys, look!” Josh said as he pointed to the tall, broad man approaching.  
The 6 Sidemen turned and looked at the crippled man, cameras facing him as they began to express their feelings of glee.  
“OH MY GOD!” Harry screamed in happiness as he leapt onto the man. The rest stood there confused as this soldier hugged Harry in return as Harry cried.  
“I’m sorry Sir, but how does Harry here know you?” Tobi asked gingerly, not wanting to offend the man.  
He chuckled a familiar laugh, deeper, but still familiar.  
“I’m surprised you haven’t recognized yet JJ,” the man said as he put Harry down gently, who was still crying.  
“Why me? And how do you know my na-” JJ cut himself off as he fell to his knees, hand covering his mouth.

And with that, Simon lifted his cap away from his face.

“SIMON!” They all screamed in happiness, sobbing. They climbed over him, all sobbing relentlessly and unashamedly. A few tears leaked from Simon’s eyes as his prosthetic leg buckled from underneath him and he crashed to the ground all in a huge mess of limbs.

Simon had returned. In blazing fashion too. The Sidemen were all happy, and living together. They were complete again.  
He was a hero.  
Jokes always flew around the group whenever Simon played games with them now, back to his usual job about how they should treat Simon with respect as “Sir Minter”. They also gave him a lot of shit whenever he took control in a team game, his deep voice demanding and strict with his Simon lilt. He still was a soldier after all.  
But he was a hero.  
Their hero.

A brave new world.


	2. Secrets Never Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He came back from the war
> 
> He had secrets
> 
> They all did
> 
> He just never told his
> 
> Cause that's what secrets are meant to be
> 
> Right?

It had already been a month since Simon had returned from serving in the military. All the secrecy and lies weren’t there anymore as there was nothing really to lie about. Or so everyone thought.

Simon wanted to join the military because he didn’t feel as though he was really doing something with YouTube as a job. He wanted to make himself feel more worthy and decided that he would serve for Great Britain after a failed attempt at Criminology in university.

After months of training and preparing for the fight of his life, he went out to the battlefield with all of the Sidemen behind his move. They remained back in London while Simon went off to Afghanistan to fight. Simon had promised to write to them every day.

Because everything involving the military is so secret, Simon didn’t reveal to his fans where he was actually going so no one could track him from his looks or technology. This also meant that the letters were going to be handwritten and would take weeks on end to arrive to each other.  
When JJ asked where Simon’s job on the field would be, Simon said he was just going to be in the 2nd line, not quite close to the battle but close enough to be involved in some action.

He lied.

Realistically, Simon had actually been trained as a bomb scout with his faithful companion, Hershey, a chocolate labrador with a great personality.

The guys were shocked when Simon arrived back early but nonetheless happy. He had a slight limp which concerned them and they questioned it but he just brushed it off saying it was lacerations on his legs that hadn’t quite healed yet.

They were also shocked to see Hershey followed behind him, now missing a leg. They never knew that Simon had a dog but when they questioned it, he just brushed it off as a therapy dog and companion.   
As said before, it had been a month since Simon had returned back and the boys were getting bored. Simon had been getting really private in his daily activities and absolutely refused to go near a football whenever they offered for him to. So, that night, they decided that they would prank him.

Simon’s POV

 

I still can’t believe that they haven’t figured it out yet. I have been hiding from them, always wearing long pants and keeping Hershey beside me at all times. Ever since my leg had been blown off I have been so off-balance and clumsy. 

It has been a long day today after filming and editing many videos to try and keep up-to-date so I should probably head to bed.

Quietly, I put Hershey in his bed beside mine and carefully took off my prosthetic leg and placed it under the bed where no one could see it. Slowly, I balanced myself onto my bed and gently lay down and pulled the duvet up and over my head so I was in my own little cocoon.

Lets just hope that there isn’t any nightmares now.

Sidemen POV (Josh, JJ, Vik)

“Hey guys its me, Vikkstar123 and today, we are going to be pranking Simon. Now as you all know it has been a month since he has returned from his break and he has gotten off scot-free so far. What is it that we are doing JJ?” Vik finished his intro and turned to him.

“Alright, so we are going to go a bit tame today and pour a bucket of ice-cold water on his head!” he exclaimed. 

“What a dead prank.”

“Coming from you Josh!”

“Guys! We are going to head upstairs now to surprise him, come one follow me.” Vik angled the camera so it was facing forward as the three of them crept up the stairs.

Josh opened his door as gently as he could so he wouldn’t wake Hershey or Simon up. They all knew how protective Hershey was of Simon.

The 3 of them snuck into his room and tiptoed over to his bedside where Simon lay peacefully, his face all smooth and relaxed.   
Snickering, Vik pointed at JJ who had the bucket of water and used his hands to gesture numbers.  
“3. 2. 1!” Vik screamed out loud when JJ dumped the ice cold water on Simon and Josh started laughing hysterically while JJ rolled around on the floor with laughter.

Simon bolted upright and let out a bloodcurdling scream. He flung his arms around his back and to his non-existent right leg and began clawing at nothing. Tears streamed down his face as he let staggered sobs out. 

Vik, Josh and JJ couldn’t believe themselves, they were screaming with laughter. They hadn’t actually looked at Simon yet but only reacted as such based on his immediate reaction.

Simon’s first response to the situation was the ‘fight or flight’ response. He chose the latter and flung himself out of bed towards the guys and his beloved dog. He didn’t make it far as he slammed on the ground, sheets pooling around his waist. His prosthetic leg was there to support him.

Hershey, now awake was climbing on top of Simon, licking the sides of his face where there were tears. Simon just lay there, sobbing heavily, his chest heaving. He tried to push himself up but soon fell down due to the sudden shock and lack of balance in his lower limbs.

The guys were now standing, having calmed down from their laughing. Vik pointed the camera at Simon and said “You just got pranked SON!”. When Simon didn’t reply, instead laying there and ignoring everyone but his dog, the guys became concerned. Then they noticed the tears.

“Oh shit,” JJ said, stating the obvious.  
“Simon are you alright?” Josh asked, crouching down beside his friend and patting him on the shoulder but he brought his hand back in shock. Massive scars laid strewn across his back, what looked like burn marks.

“Holy shit Simon, what actually happened when you went away?” Vik tried to put the question across gently but instead it came out blunt.

Calming himself down Simon looked up at his friends. There was no way he was getting out of this now, he couldn’t even stand up!

“I’ll explain, but can I please have a hand getting back into bed?” he asked.

“You can do that yourself can’t you?” JJ said, immediately cringing at his own words. He didn’t need to say it quite like that.

“No, you don’t understand, can I please just have a hand up?”

The 3 looked at each other skeptically, yes they had just scared the shit out of their friend but it wasn’t like they broke his legs or anything.  
After realizing that they weren’t going to help him, Simon sighed and rubbed his fingers on his eyebrows.

“Look, can you guys just leave the room for a sec and call the others and tell them to get their asses over here?”. The tone is Simon’s voice was enough for them to all leave the room as fast as possible, each calling another Sideman.

Simon sighed again as he sat on the floor in his room. Might as well get this done and over with already. He patted Hershey on the head, thanking him silently as he flipped onto his back and reached under his bed to pull out his prosthetic leg. He strapped it on as he mentally went through how he was going to explain this to the boys.

He pulled on a some track pants and a shirt and made his way down stairs slowly, with Hershey at his heels. When he reached the bottom he realized that the whole crew was here. He sat down.

“Before we talk can someone go get me a glass of water?” Tobi went off without hesitation. If Simon had asked them round at 2 in the morning there was obviously a very good reasoning to it. He came back and handed Simon the glass when all the questions erupted.

Simon sipped from his glass as he watched all of them yelling over the top of each other, even arguing with who got to ask their question first.

“WHY THE FUCK WERE THERE BURN MARKS ON YOUR BACK!” Josh yelled over all the others.

Simon jumped in surprise at the sudden exclamation and dropped his glass onto his right leg. It hit it with a clang before rolling off and smashing on the floor.  
Immediately all the Sidemen stopped arguing over each other and looked at Simon in confusion.  
He was shaking, the noise that the glass made definitely screamed ‘fake leg!’. 

“Simon, is there something you want to tell us?” Ethan asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

Simon let out a nervous giggle, “Well, I guess I’m never going to play football again?”. This was answered with immediate uproar.

“What’d you mean you can’t play football again?”  
“You love football!”  
You’re our best striker!”

Simon just sat there shaking while the others eventually calmed down. Slowly, Simon took off his shirt and turned around. He was met with gasps and a few choked ‘no’s. Tears dripped down Simon’s face.  
“That isn’t all.” Slowly, Simon stood up and began to pull his track pants down, to reveal a clunky metal leg.

“Wtf Simon!”  
“Why didn’t you tell us?”  
“What happened!?”

Simon started sobbing when he felt pairs of arms around him. His secret was out. There was no going back now.

“When I said I was serving in the 2nd line in Afghanistan, I was actually a bomb scout for private movings of explosives, me and Hershey would check to see if there were any live bombs. We found one, for sure.” Simon just stopped speaking at that point because he couldn’t.

The rest of the Sidemen cried that night. They cried at the sacrifice their friend made. They cried at the betrayal of friendship. They cried at the loss of energy in him. The cried for his lack of motivation. They cried for him.  
They cried when he couldn’t.

Simon was now a shell of a body. He knew his friends felt betrayed. He hated it. But I guess there was no turning back now.

For the remainder of that night all of the sidemen laid piled one on top of the other, arms and legs all tangled together, or in Simon’s case arms and leg.

They were going to get through this together.

No matter what.


	3. Discovered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phantom pains
> 
> The rest find out

It was Sidemen Sunday. Yet again. Football time it was! Only problem was, was that Simon absolutely refuses to go near a football nowadays, the sphere reminding him too much on what he lost. The fans had been quite observant on the lack of football and FIFA videos as well as a lot less footage surfacing of Simon standing. It had been 3 months.  
3 months since he lost all faith in himself.  
1 month since he told the Sidemen.  
And he was still yet to tell the others outside of the Sidemen. 

You see, both Lux and Freezy alongside Manny had been waiting for the Sidemen to film a IRL video with them ever since Simon had returned from his Military adventure. All the Sidemen refused to do a video relating to football if Simon wasn’t involved.  
Yeah, it was pretty safe to say that JJ and Ethan were starting to hang on the last thread. Yes, Simon was depressed that he couldn’t play football.  
Yes, he was mentally unstable and still is, but surely football would be part of the healing process! Well, that was JJ’s logic.

So that was how they all ended up at My Local Pitch, filming various challenges for each channel. Except Simon’s.  
It took a lot of convincing to get Simon out to the pitch, on the privado that Simon does not show up on any challenge and helps with getting the balls and such.  
Yeah, Lux, Freezy and Manny were pretty fucking confused.  
Like, how on earth did their bestfriend go from breathing football to not wanting to have a bar of it?

But on they went with it.

 

“Hey guys and welcome to the trickshot challenge,” Freezy exclaimed, throwing his arms out wildly. “It is pretty simple, 3 attempts at a trickshot as well as a finish. 5 points for a good trick, another 5 for a goal, 3 for one on target, none for no goal and -3 for a poor trick. Let’s do it!”

Simon stood behind the camera, grinning as his mates did all kinds of different kicks and tricks. He shuffled awkwardly behind the camera, moving his weight from his left to his, well, right. There was the dull pain that had been there consistently where his right leg once was, a phantom pain. Only Tobi was the other person to witness one of these episodes other than Simon. As he watched on, memories from all of his previous football encounters with the guys came flooding through his head. One that stood out in particular was his halfway-line goal which he punted with his right leg.

He looked on gloomy, trying to mask his pain as it built, slowly zoning out when voices brought him back to the present.

“Simon! Get your ass over here!” Freezy shouted. Simon just looked over at him with sad eyes,  
“I’m sorry Freezy but I’m going to have to pass.”  
“You don’t even know what I was going to say! Don’t worry we won’t keep it in, surely a few months away didn’t make you skills go away that much. Anyways, can you please show JJ how to do a Rabona, his is fucking terrible.”  
“Freezy, I really can’t.”  
“Aww don’t pussy out on us Simon,” Lux exclaimed.  
“You have the best Rabona out of all of us, don’t worry about it,” Manny further backed up the 2 Cal’s. The rest of the Sidemen just looked on, they hadn’t quite come to informing the others yet and Simon was still really uncomfortable with his prosthetic leg.

“I’ll do it then, but don’t laugh please.” Simon sighed, realizing that he wasn’t going to win this argument.

He limped up to the ball that was on the penalty spot, the pain getting worse and worse at an exponential rate and slowly fixed his stance.   
Delicately he lifted up the prosthetic leg and went to move it around and behind him when a searing pain shot through his lower half. He cried out and collapsed on the ground, fingers grabbing and scraping at the pant leg of his right leg. It was horrible, unbearable.  
Tobi was the first to reach the screaming mess on the ground, placing his hand on Simon’s chest and looking right into his eyes and telling Simon to breathe. The rest of the Sidemen soon followed and knelt down next to their hurt friend.

“G-get i-i-i-t off!” He yelled, his body lurching up and down in fits of pain.

JJ was the first to react, quickly unzipping Simon’s pant leg and unbuckling his prosthetic leg where red, angry scar tissue flamed up at all of them. By then the rest of the guys had started to make there way over, confused like hell when Manny cried out and started sobbing. From where he was, he had a clear view of Simon’s painful injury. The other 2 Cal’s hadn’t noticed yet. Tobi had moved away from Simon to help his distressed brother and Josh took over from him in calming Simon down.

“What the fuck is going on with him!” Lux shrieked, hating not knowing what the situation was. He soon shut up though when he saw Simon.

He was truly a mess now, his arms flying about everywhere, having to be pinned down by Harry and Ethan who even then were struggling. Vik was gently rubbing at the mid-thigh of his right leg, the stump moving up and down and JJ holding down his kicking left leg while Josh tried calming him down.

“Oh my god, holy shi- what the fuck happened when you were away!” Freezy screamed slowly going red in the face with anger. 

Simon was slowly coming to his senses and through watery eyes he looked at his 3 friends. One absolutely broken, another clearly distraught and the last nearly lunging at him, demanding answers.

He let his head fall back down. This was the worst time for them to find out. Broken, he thought, I just want Hershey, please get me away from here. Eventually he stopped thrashing, he still was in pain. No.

He had given up.


End file.
